Rate and risk factors of surgical site infections with antibiotic prophylaxis

OBJECTIVE: This study is aimed at determining the incidence of surgical site infections, with antibiotic use. Furthermore, to correlate infection with type of operations, length of intervention, number of stitches, pre-operative hospitalization, age and sex of the patient.

METHODS: All Yemeni patients (N=601) who underwent surgical intervention, with preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis, at Al-Kuwait University Hospital, Sana'a, Republic of Yemen, during 1st August 2000 through to 30th November 2000 were followed up until stitch removal or discharge. Data was registered in a spreadsheet and processed statistically by statistical package for social sciences 10.0.

RESULTS: Overall incidence of surgical site infections was 2.2%, 0.5% in clean operation, 2.8% in clean contaminated, 9.1% in contaminated and 2.3% in dirty operations. Surgical site infections were found positively correlated with duration of operation (P=0.015) and number of stitches (P=0.017), but insignificantly associated with sex, age, type of operation and pre-operative hospitalization.

CONCLUSION: In conclusion, surgical site infections, with antibiotic use, were found low. Higher number of stitches and longer duration of operation were the risk factors.